Africa Project Aims For Clean Energy

The African Rift Geothermal facility project aims
to tap the heat trapped in rocks deep beneath the
floor of the geological feature that runs from the
Red Sea to Mozambique.

"Oil today is US$57 a barrel. That is sucking up
every cent of development aid to Africa," a spokesman
for the UN Environment Programme said on the margins
of a meeting of environment and development ministers
from the Group of Eight rich nations.

"It is a huge problem for Africa. This really is
a matter of life and death. This could be the answer
to their prayers," he told Reuters.

A recent report by the US Geothermal Energy Association
calculated that the hot rocks beneath the rift valley
could produce up to 6.5 gigawatts of energy.

But to date only Kenya is making any effort to exploit
the resources that literally lie under their feet
- and even then there are only 121 megawatts of
geothermal electric power installed.

"The potential benefit for these energy-starved
countries is vast," the UNEP spokesman said.

A paper prepared for the World Geothermal Congress
in Turkey in April makes the point that not only
is geothermal energy an environmentally clean power
source, but in Ethiopia, Eritrea and Djibouti it
is the only indigenous energy source.

But there are huge technical let alone financial
obstacles to overcome first.

The existing drilling technology - mostly based
on oil exploration - is not suited to the very high
temperatures experienced when trying to tap geothermal
sources and start-up costs can be prohibitive.

The UN and its partners are busy raising the finance
for the pilot project which they hope will get under
way this year.